Wolf Creek

I've gotten behind on blogging.  We've had some fun outings and I'll try to catch up and tell you all about them.

We were able to do a little hike to Wolf Creek Falls, near Glide, Oregon.  It was an enjoyable hike and a fun time with family.  
 

 The hike has a couple of bridges, always fun for kids.

It follows the creek for the most part.  There are lots of great views of the creek. 

Logan & Taylor found rocks and water, which quickly lead to throwing rocks into the water, naturally.

And then there was the 'falls' part of Wolf Creek Falls. 

 Logan is a hiking pro now.  He's been on several hikes this summer (and this one was the easiest of them all).  

The day after our Wolf Creek Falls hike we all went to Medford. 

 We met my parents at the Medford LDS Temple.  I was able to go in and help do some work for my paternal grandparents.  It was a very special time.  

 The kids were able to see the Medford Temple for the first time and visit with Nana & Papa for a little while too. 

On a completely different occasion, I took the kids to a park in Roseburg.  

The first thing Logan went for was this very tall tower with a web of ropes and lots of space to fall through.  He scrabbled to the top and was so proud of himself.  He spent most of his time on this thing and didn't fall once.  

 He even convinced Taylor it was fun.

The Umpqua River flows past the park and we were able to dip our feet in, to cool ourselves off.  It was a very hot day that day.  The kids loved this park so much.  They didn't want to leave, but it was just too hot to stay out very long. 

Hopefully tomorrow or the next day I'll post about Logan riding at the skate park.  




 

Spontaneous Trip to the Beach

One day, recently, James came home and said he was done with school for the day.  Then he suggested we go to the beach.  I said, "Sure. When?"  He said, "Right now!"  Oh, okay. 

 So we went on a little spontaneous trip to the coast.  

 It was late afternoon when we got there, so the sun was at just the wrong angle for taking pictures,   

but the water was so calm that the surfers were spending a lot of time just paddling around.

The children were brave enough to get in the cold water.

 

 We had a great afternoon at the beach.

This was a sunset at our house one evening (completely unrelated to the beach trip) that I thought was beautiful and unusual.  Too bad they never turn out as good as the real thing.  Still nice though.

I have lots of other pictures to post, so I'm going to try to post again tomorrow or the next day about our little hike to Wolf Creek Falls.

 

 

Sunriver

We had our 2nd annual Sharp Family Reunion Vacation.  There should be an acronym for that.  The 2 SFRV or 2 SRV (2nd Sharp Reunion Vacation.  

Anyway, it was tons of fun!  There were 15 children (all of Larry & Marilyn's grandchildren) there, ranging in age from about 1 - 17.   Three of the girls are not in the above picture though. 

 The kids rode their bikes a lot.

 There was this cool loop outside the house and the kids would ride around it, over and over again. 

 Inside the paved loop was some fun "off-road" riding.

 Last year, this guy learned to ride his bike without training wheels during our Sunriver vacation.

This year, it was this one's turn. 

We drove to the top of Lava Butte and hiked around the rim.  It had amazing views of Mt. Bachelor and Three Sisters mountains. 

Mt. Bachelor.

Three Sisters. 

 Deschutes National Forest

Logan at the fire lookout tower on Lava Butte, with Bachelor and Three Sisters in the background.

 Taylor with one of her favorite buddies at the top of Lava Butte.

Grandpa, surrounded by grandchildren.

Logan with one of his favorite buddies on the trail through the lava beds.

Taylor and Logan on the lava beds trail with Mt. Bachelor in the background.

Taylor clearly didn't hike enough, she still had energy at the end to pose for the camera.  Both hikes we went on were fairly easy walks.  It was perfect for people with young children.

A few of the younger cousins working on a puzzle, including Taylor.  We didn't get too far on the puzzle.  I think it was missing lots of pieces.  Next time, I plan on bringing a few puzzles.  It's a great evening time activity.

 Another activity the kids enjoyed was playing and watching others play electronics.  The kids weren't on them very long though, with so many other things to do.

One of the kids' favorite things to do was their race around the house.  They ran so fast all the pictures are blurry.  They would run down these stairs 

 across the dining room,

between a log pole and kitchen island with chairs,

 behind the front room, 

down the entry way towards the front door, taking a sharp right and high-tailing it up the stairs, 

then run past this balcony and through the entertainment room,

and down another set of stairs, back to where they started.  It's taken me longer to type out the route than it took them to run it.  It was taking them about 15 - 20 seconds, (less for many of them).

I love this last picture because it shows the excitement they all had for one another.  They were cheering and chanting for each other and were genuinely happy for each others' successes.  It was super sweet.  We could all learn a thing or two from their example.

What were the parents and grandfather doing while the children were tearing through the house?  Taking pictures and timing them, of course!

 Taylor shucking corn.  

Each night a different family was in charge of the meals for the entire day, but everybody was always pitching in wherever they could.

 Sunset over the golf course, that was right outside our backdoor.

A view of the front room, enormous fireplace and dining room from the balcony above.

 It was hard to say goodbye to all our cousins.  We soooo hope we get to do this again next year! 

 

 

Logan's Big Day!

It was Logan's baptism day!  We've been preparing for this day for months.  We've been planning and trying to set the date for weeks.  Finally it came, Saturday, August 11, 2012!

We had the missionaries (Sister Anderson & Sister Young) come and teach Logan the discussions.  The kids loved it.  They loved having the missionaries come just for them.  The sisters were great about teaching at Logan and Taylor's level.  

One time they were talking about agency.  They said, "Taylor, when your mom asks you to do something, you have a choice.  You can obey or...?"  

"Go to my room."  Taylor finished.  

Logan got his very own set of scriptures, thanks to his Grandma & Grandpa.  He loves them and loves reading them.  He also got a book about baptism from Nana & Papa.  So we spent some time before the baptism as a family, just sitting quietly, reading the book on baptism and about Jesus' baptism in the scriptures.

Logan was so excited to be baptized.  He told me that being baptized was more exciting and important than any birthday.

The big moment finally arrived.  We went up to the church to make sure everything was ready, you know, like water in the font and baptismal clothing for Logan.  We forgot a few things, like our camera and had to go back to the house a couple of times, so it felt a little hectic for a bit.  But it all worked out well in the end. 

Look at how sweet Logan looks in this picture.  

 So precious!

He was a little nervous, fear of the unknown, you know.  Just minutes before the baptism started, Logan looked up at me and said, "my nervous just turned to scared!"  We each said a quick prayer to feel better and we were good to go.  

I asked Logan how he felt after he was baptized and he said, "Awesome!!!"  And Taylor turned to me and said, "I want to be baptized too!"

His baptism was awesome.  Thanks to everyone who came and everyone who loves and supports Logan.  We really appreciate you all.